Fritillaria meleagroides
Fritillaria meleagroides Schult. & Schult. f.
Liliaceae – Lily family
Conservation status. Critically Endangered [CR A4c; C2a(ii)]. BDA.
Morphology and biology. Bulbous perennial, 25–60 cm high. Leaves glaucous, narrowly linear, alternate. Flowers usually solitary, rarely 2–3, campanulate, pending. Perianth segments 2.5–3.5 cm, very dark reddish to dark brownish violet, somewhat tessellate. Capsule erect, 2×1 cm, more or less triangular. Fl. IV–V, fr. VI. Insect pollination. Reproduction by seeds and vegetative means (poorly effective).
Habitats and populations. Grows in damp to wet (mesophytic) grasslands. Typically stenobiotic, localized in the transitional zone between the moist and xeromesophytic areas. Forms populations of about 20 to a few hundred individuals. High fluctuations in the population size have been detected throughout the period of observations.
Distribution in Bulgaria. Sofia region (to the south from Verila railway station), Znepole Region (Dragomansko and Aldomirovsko swamps); 500–800 m alt.
General distribution. W Siberia, C Asia, European Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Bulgaria.
Threats. Habitat change (drying up of swamps and marshland areas); adaptation to a very narrow ecological niche with a limited distribution; transition of mesophytic meadows into arable land; low reproductive capacity.
Conservation measures taken. Protected species according to the national Biodiversity Act. The population in the Aldomirovsko swamp falls within a protected area. All localities are within sites of the European ecological network Natura 2000 in Bulgaria. An action plan for the species has been elaborated (2005).
Conservation measures needed. Maintaining the mowing regime in the meadows where the species occurs; deposition of seeds to the National Seed Genebank in Bulgaria.
References. Jordanov 1931b, 1936; Kolev 1956; Yanev 1964; Andreev 1993.
Authors: Iva Apostolova & Tenyo Meshinev
